Folding cot.



J.L.TANDY.-

FOLDING GOT. APPLICATION FILED JULY 1, 1912.

1,088,111. Patented Feb. 24, 1914.

FFEC.

JOHN L. TANDY, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.

FOLDING COT.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN L. TANDY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Kansas City, in the county of Jackson and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Folding Cots, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to convertible furniture and more especially to furniture of that class exemplified by my Patent No. 1006147, October 17, 1911, for cot or couch, which patent shows an article of furniture convertible into a cot, seat, or childs bed, my present invention having for its object to produce a simpler, stronger and more easily manipulated device than that above referred to, as well as one of more graceful and ornate appearance.

A further object is to produce a catch adapted to be raised or lowered by a jointed end guard connecting the body with a wing thereof which, as such wing is raised or lowered, shall automatically lock the said end guard in an expanded position to support the wing in a horizontal position or in a collapsed position to support said wing in upright position, and which furthermore will automatically unlatch as said Wing is moved from a horizontal to upright position or to a pendent position, and which can be easily tripped by hand to permit the wing to be lowered from its upright position.

With these general objects in View, the invention consists of certain novel and peculiar features of construction and organization as hereinafter described and claimed; and in order that it may be more clearly understood, reference is to be had to the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1, is a fragmentary perspective view of an article of furniture embodying my invention with the wings in horizontal position and the end guards in expanded condition. Fig. 2, is a fragmentary perspective view with one of the wings secured in upright position and the other in pendent position. Fig. 3, is anenlarged fragmentary vertical section taken in the plane of the exposed face of the left-hand catch as shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 4;, is a view taken in the same plane at the same side to show the position of the catch when the adjacent wing occupies its upright position.

In the said drawing which illustrates one end only of the article, 1 indicates supporting legs, 2 tie bars connecting the legs, and

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 24:, 1914:.

Application filed July 1, 1912. Serial No. 706,906.

3 and 4: tie bars for connecting one set of end legs with the other set.

Each set of end legs carries an end bar which, with the legs and their tie bar connection, constitutes a rigid body or fixed part for the piece of furniture, the said end bars being of angle-iron and each comprising a depending flange 5 and a horizontal flange 6 projecting inwardly from the upper part and terminating a short distance inward of the ends of said flange 5, and in each end of flange 6 is a longitudinal notch 7.

The wings or extensions are adjustable to convert the device into an ordinary single cot, a double cot, a chair or bench and a childs bed, and each consists of a longitudinal bar 8 and a pair of inwardly projecting arms at the ends of said bars, and each of said arms which are preferably of angleiron consists of a depending flange 9 and an inwardly projecting flange 10 at the upper edge of and terminating short of the inner end of said flange 9, and each flange 10 is provided in its inner end with notch 11.

The wings when horizontal lie in the same horizontal plane as the end bar and the ends of flange 5 of the latter overlap and are pivotally connected at 12 to the inner ends of the vertical flanges of the wing arms, the inner ends of the flanges 10 of the latter being juxtaposed to the ends of the flange 6 of said end bar when the wings are horizontal, as shown in Figs. 1 and 8. A jointed end frame for and connecting each wing with the said end bar, consists of a bar 13 pivoted at one end at 1 1 to said end bar, and a bar 15 pivoted at one end at 16 to one of the arms of the wing, and said bars 13 and 15 are pivotally connected together at 17, the said bars 13 of adjacent end guards crossing each other as shown clearly in Figs. 1 and 2, and for imparting a graceful and ornate appearance tothe device, the bars 15 and the ends of bars 13 where they connect with bars 15, are arched.

From each end guard consisting of a pair of bars 13 and 15, a catch 18 is pivotally suspended at or close to pivotal point 17 and said catch is provided in its outer edge with a notch 19, and at the lower end of the same edge with an outwardly project-ing shoulder or toe 20, the said edge of the bar being cut away or recessed at 21 to form said shoulder or toe and also to reduce its width near its lower end, and in the opposite edge of the catch at its narrowest point. is formed notch. 22. Y

Each catch extends. through the slot formed by the notches 7 and 11 in the adjacent ends of the end bar and the arm of the adjacent wing.

In a wing pendent as shown at the front of Fig. 2 all except the extreme upper end of the catch lies behind the adjacent arm 1a of the wing, and its notches and shoulder or toe'perform no function, and to permit the' catches to lie snugly at the inner sides 1 of the wing arms when the latter are pendent, it is desirable that the upper ends of 15 the catches be bowed or curved outward, as

shown.

M As a wing is swung upward to horizontal position, the bar 15 of the connected end guard swings the latter upward and said guard incidentally raises or slides the catch upward, and as the wing passes slightly above a horizontal plane, the notch 19 of "the catch appears above the arm of such wing. If it is desired to secure the wing in horizontal position, it is permitted to move down to such position and inciden- ,,tally the catch. through its tendency to swing outward slightly under force of gravity, causes its notch 19 to engage the flange 10 of said wing, as shown most clearly in Fig. 8, it being noted that the said notch is .inclined upward slightly so as to insure this engagement, and also that to guard against accidental dislocation of the catch, the said flange 10, at the inner end of the notch 11,

is preferably turned upward slightly as shown most clearly in Fig. 3. If instead of securing the wing in a horizontal position,

it is desired to swing it to upright position 4a where it shall form a back for a seat or one side of a childs bed, the upward movement imparted to the wing is made continuous until the wings occupy a position shown at the back of Fig. 2 and in Fig. 1. Under thiscontinued upward movement the catch is raised until after the wing attains its upright position, the shoulder or toe of the catch enters the notch 11 and by striking against the inner end of said notch is forced '50 inwardly until its notch 22 engages the flange 6 of the end bar, at the inner end of notch 7, as shown most clearly in Fig. 4, "'andin order to guard-against accidental dislocation of the catch from the end bar, the

" latter at the inner end of said notch 7, is

upturned slightly to more reliably retain the catch in position, it being noted that when the catch is in this position, the bar 13 thereof forms an arm for the seat as shown in r 6 Fig. 2, or forms a part of the end wall of the 7 device when converted into a childs bed, at

which time it will of course be understood that both wings are upright.

When it is desired to lower a wing from its horizontal position, the operator grasps it and raises it slightly, this action causing the inner end of the flange 10 to ride against the lower edge of the notch 19 and swing the catch in the direction indicated by the arrow, Fig. 3, until the notch 19 is disengaged from the notch 11. As this occurs the wing is permitted to drop and the catch will move rapidly through the slot until it attains the position shown at the front of Fig. 2, this action being caused to take place quickly so that the notch 19 will pass the flange 10 before the tendency of the catch to move laterally will reengage the catch therewith.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that in the operations described both for locking and unlocking the catch, no hand manipulation of the same is needed. lVhen a wing is to be lowered from its upright position, however, it is necessary to trip the catch by hand, as will be seen by reference particularly to Fig. 4. In this case, the upright wing is first swung inward slightly to withdraw its notched end from engagement with the shoulder or toe of the catch, and then the latter is pushed or struck outwardly to disengage its notch 22 from bar (3, there being suflicient space or play between the arm of the wing when the latter is upright and swung inward as explained, and the inner end of the notch 7 of the end bar, to accommodate this movement, and in this connection it is desired to state that the chief reason for narrowing the lower end of the catch is to accommodate catching and tripping action without making slot 7 of undue length. As the catch is tripped, as explained, the upright wing is swung outward quickly so that through the connected end guard the catch will be slid downward without any chance of its notch 22 reengaging the end bar. The continued downward movement of the wing, of course, continues the lowering of the catch and the wing may be secured in a horizontal position or may continue downward until it is pendent from the end bar.

From the above description, it will be ap parent that I have produced convertible furniture embodying the features of advantage enumerated as desirable in the statement of the object of the invention and which may be changed in minor particulars without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In convertible furniture, a fixed part, a wing pivoted thereto for movement about a horizontal axis, an end guard comprising a pair of members pivoted together and to said wing and fixed part respectively, and a catch carried by said end guard and adapted to lock said wing either in horizontal position or in upright position above said fixed part.

2. In convertible furniture, a fixed part,

a wing pivoted thereto for movement about a horizontal axis, an end guard comprising a pair of members pivoted together and to said wing and fixed part respectively, a catch pivot-ally suspended from the end guard and raised and lowered thereby, and means whereby said catch is swung automatically into locking position as the wing attains an upright position above said fixed part.

3. In convertible furniture, a fixed part, a wing pivoted thereto for movement about a horizontal axis, an end guard comprising a pair of members pivoted together and to said wing and fixed part respectively, and a catch pivotally suspended from the end guard and raised and lowered thereby, said catch being provided at its inner side with a notch and at its outer side 'with a shoulder, whereby the catch is adapted through the engagement of said shoulder with said wing to be swung inward to engage the notch with the adjacent end of said fixed part.

4:. In convertible furniture, a fixed part, a movable part pivoted thereto for movement about a horizontal axis, an end guard comprising a pair of members pivoted together and to said fixed and movable parts respectively, and a catch pivotally suspended from Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the the end guard and raised and lowered thereby, said catch being provided with a notch for engagement with one of said parts adjacent their pivotal connection to lock said movable part in horizontal position, in which position the point of engagement of said notch is out of vertical alinement with the pivot of the catch, whereby the latter swings automatically into locking position.

5. In convertible furniture, a fixed part, a wing pivoted thereto for movement about a horizontal axis, an end guard comprising a pair of members pivoted together and to said wing and fixed part respectively, and a catch pivotally suspended from the end guard and raised and lowered thereby, said catch being provided with an inclined notch for engagement wit-h the adjacent portion of the wing to lock the latter when in horizontal position, whereby further upward movement of the wing from a horizontal position will disengage said catch from looking position.

In testimony whereof I atlix my signature, in the presence of two witnesses.

- JOHN L. TANDY. Witnesses: I

M. K. PRESTON, G. Y. THORPE.

Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. 0. 

